How do you pre-empt or post-manage a total Neolithic booze-up?

Background - I'm leaning out nicely on a paleo plus twice weekly 24 hour fast setup, with carb refeeds occasionally after a heavy lifting session (3x per week). I'm no longer the heavy drinker I was as a student, and keep it to a gin and tonic or large glass of red once or twice a week.

However! Coming up I have a re-union with an old friend, and there will be no "wise choices" involved I suspect! It will be a fairly heavy and real ale (Americans: read "microbrewery") based affair.

So, ignoring "what to drink" advice, is there any way to limit damage with diet in the surrounding 48 hours? Should I fast the day after? Eat nothing but fat or protein that day? Increase lactose or fructose intake?

To complicate things, we will be heading out after a meal he will have cooked, but they're very accommodating and I suspect it will be meat/veggies based.

Edit: to complicate things even MORE, I will be coming off a nightshift that morning!

I don't think Stabby's been around here for a while, but here's a pretty comprehensive article linked to a while back. http://highbrowpaleo.com/2011/12/26/the-highbrow-paleo-guide-to-binge-drinking-mitigating-the-deleterious-effects-of-ethanol-on-health-or-how-to-get-shitfaced-with-impunity/ *I don't really drink much, so I do not have personal experience with this.

That's pretty comprehensive! Anyone else have a take! Not mixing grape and grain shouldn't be a problem, but we will be on pretty carby beer all night I expect. Should be able to fast in the day of, workout, then have a pretty low-carb/clean dinner.

I read an article by a paleo bodybuilder on how to minimize "alcohol damage". It recommended avoiding carbs and sugars on the day of drinking. Try to stick to lean protein and non-starchy vegetables. Drink lots of water. Will post that article if I come across it.

Water is your friend! I have found that whenever I end my night with several glasses of water, I don't wake up feeling crappy. Note: space the glasses of water out over a couple of hours. I don't know that drinking 32 oz of water right before bed is a stellar idea!

Also, if you're not anti-excederin, I find that it's really helpful for me to take it about an hour before I need to get up in the morning, if I have something to do the next day. So if I need to be up at 7:30am, I'd set an alarm for 6:30am, take excederin and go back to bed. The caffiene in it combined with pain killer seems to do the trick. Sleeping with your head and back propped up a bit more also helps for some reason.

within 5 hours on either end of drinking- no carbs/sugars (except directly post workout if you've earned it

stick to clear alcohol and minimize carb/sugar containing mixers- My preference is top shelf vodka, neat. Dirty (vodka) martinis are not carby either, but really just go for straight top shelf vodka if you want to totally minimize damage.

1 glass of water between drinks

leave one 16oz bottle of water by your bedside you can stumble back to your apartment and chug that before falling asleep

The day after

wake up and splash cold water on face

get a cardiovascular workout in that will make you sweat.

sit in sauna for 10 minutes (optional)

cold shower following workout

resume normal eating and daily routine: I find starch in the first morning meal- like eggs and sweet potato hash really helps me feel better. But that's me. You may feel better no carbing it (doubt it though).

That's how I try to minimize the damage done on a heavy night of drinking. Some other rules are

never mix grape and grain

never drink wine with the intention of getting drunk- terrible HO

never get drunk off of champagne- terrible HO

if you know you are really going to be hitting the bottle, choose the cleanest alcohol you can fine- I think it's vodka. I rarely ever get a hangover when I stick to just vodka. My do some terrible regrettable things, but no HO.

These rules have been rigorously field tested by myself and fully endorse them. However, I cannot be held responsible or accountable for your actions.

That's pretty comprehensive! Anyone else have a take! Not mixing grape and grain shouldn't be a problem, but we will be on pretty carby beer all night I expect. Should be able to fast in the day of, workout, then have a pretty low-carb/clean dinner.